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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2003)
• march 7.2003 26 The House That Volunteers Built H istory L esson The face of AIDS has changed since 1988 Continued from Page 25 by Pat Young hen Our House of Portland opened its doors 15 years ago, Bud “Whoop Whoop” Clark was the city’s mayor, the Ore gon Citizens Alliance had successfully passed its anti-gay Ballot Measure 8, and George Bush (the first) was elected presi dent with the promise of creating a kinder, gen tler America. However, in 1988, A ID S was any thing but kinder and gentler. Insurance companies wanted to test appli cants for HIV and feared they would lose money covering the cost of A ID S care. Education was a controversial subject. Tri-Met removed Cascade A ID S Project posters from buses after riders complained they promoted homosexuality. Peo ple were being shunned. Family relationships were tom. Fear, misunderstanding and discrimi nation engulfed people with AIDS. They were in desperate need of a care facility. “Our House was an offshoot of Juniper House,” remembers Pat Schwiebert, the first board chair woman. “A group of us got together and planned and dreamed and worked on it. It was something that needed to happen in Portland.” Juniper House was an A ID S foster care facil ity, but when it closed, Schwiebert and others thought they should start over and do it differ ently. They thought they could do it better from the perspective o f care and compassion. “Five people got together and came forward. They started with nothing but commitment, and in less than six months Our House was open,” recalls Kimberly Brown, who volun teered at Juniper House. The first location was at Southeast 26th Avenue and Powell Boulevard. It had two bed rooms upstairs and two downstairs, accommo dating five residents. It was a wonderful house, but the stairs presented a problem. Within a year, Our House moved to its current location at Southeast 28th Avenue and Alder Street, which has 12 beds all on one floor. The first year was a wild ride. Everyone was still learning about A ID S and knew little about dementia. From the beginning, the residents had a role in how things were done, within lim its. Thus the name “Our House.” It was going to be a community, a family. “It was pretty intense at times," Schwiebert says. “It wasn’t just nice, sweet stuff. We were W ‘IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD’ TRAIN YOUR BRAIN. CHANGE YOUR LIFE. always on the edge, and yet there would be these absolutely pure, perfect mo ments of coming together and caring for each other.” One reason for the success of Our House is the phi losophy surround ing the volunteers. “To have a suc cessful volunteer program, you have to have a strong volunteer ethic about it being just as valuable as the paid staff,” says Judith Rizzio, who’s been with Our House for 14 years— the first eight as volunteer Judith Rizzio has been with director. Rizzio made sure the staff and residents respected the volunteers. She implanted an ethic of giving back and thanking the volun teers. She makes sure that the volunteers feel they are an important aspect of Our House and that their time is well spent. It’s a philosophy that has withstood the test of time. When Our House opened, most of the resi dents were white gay men. Some were middle class before AIDS took away their livelihood. They came to Our House to spend their last days. “Our hardest year was 1993, in which we had 63 deaths. It was so constant. It was like being in a war zone,” Rizzio recalls. It’s still difficult for some volunteers and staff to talk about. “We just thought, ‘When is this going to stop?* And then all of a sudden, the unbeliev able magic of protease inhibitors came along and literally gave back people life,” Rizzio says. With A ZT came a huge change in the mind set. Now people could live with the disease instead of waiting to die from it. “The whole psyche about working here changed as well as the way we went about doing our work,” Rizzio notes. “And it was profound.” Our House for 14 years But with that came new challenges. Resi dents could get better and leave. Our House hired a therapist to help people occupy their time— to create activities so they could have full and involved complex lives. The profile of the residents also changed. Our House began to see more street people and people with strong addictions and some form of mental disability. Now that residents could live longer, staff and volunteers had to learn how to address these issues as well as take care of their health. The advancement in medicine has helped people live with AIDS, but the crisis is far from over. It might be a different face, but the level of illness that the people are entering and the need for these rooms is still very real. “Oh, I have this dream that someday I can be the person who walks out and locks the door behind me because we don't need it," Rizzio says. “ But I don’t think that is going to happen." J R : ' -! ' . : ■ • '■ ' ' ' ' • PAT Y o u n g is a Portland free-lance writer and gay and lesbian historian. Qpive with Ppicte their final days— especially at the moment when they pass on. Estes, Barham and St. M artin serve on the personal care team that deals with those m om ents. They not only bathe and feed those too ill to do that them selves, but they often are called in during the middle o f the night when it b e com es clear som e one may soon die. “You do som e times get emotional ly attached, and it is hard,” Estes says. “I deal with it...I know that am I there to help them, and to be with them in their Lisa Benson final days of their life is an incredible experience. I always feel like I get back more than I give.” All of the volunteers echo that sentiment. St. Martin notes that some residents of Our House have absolutely no family support and that having volunteers there in the end helps them deal with the process. “Just having someone there to hold your hand makes a dif ference,” she says. Barham adds: “ I don’t think until you’ve actually experienced O ur House you can describe what it’s like to volunteer there. People say: ‘1 don ’t know how you can do that. It would be so said. It would be so hard.’ It’s about the gifts o f life and giving and nur turing and sharing and caring for each other. It is a true gift when they allow you to be a part of their life’s journey at Our House. I leave there feeling I’ve gotten more than I’ve given. Bryant shares a story about a resident who was “very difficult to me and to others" when she first volunteered. T h at man eventually got well enough to move out, and she left the area for a short time to take a new job. Flow- ever, she eventually returned to Our House, and soon that resident became ill and moved back into the facility. “When Kathryn told me he was back, I rolled my eyes to the sky and said, ‘Here we go again,’ ’’ Bryant says. “W hat happened next fltxired me. He told me he was sorry for the way he treated me, and he asked me to forgive him. I told him there was nothing to be forgiven for.” CW e& isides 7 have to date lost 22 lbs and am off Zoloft. All thanks to you. 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